Take 35 musical acts and an energetic crowd of close to 5,000 people, add more than 250 volunteers and a dedicated staff of coordinators, and the result is the 30th annual Mission Folk Music Festival.
Organizers of this year’s event say they are “tremendously happy” with how smoothly things went over the weekend at Fraser River Heritage Park.
“And I think our audience was happy too,” said Kat Wahamaa, a member of the festival board.
She said the feedback from the audience has all been positive, which has left organizers feeling “pretty good” about the future.
“It was nice to see young families with their kids coming out to the park on Friday,” said Wahamaa.
“We have been making strides exponentially in the last few years so we are feeling pretty good about that.”
New events, like the young-singers portion of the showcase attracted large crowds, as did the storytelling.
“Storytelling was really well-received. I’d like to see it continue,” Wahamaa said.
With the festival complete, attention is now being turned to the 31st annual event and beyond.
Wahamaa said organizers will announce the musical lineup much sooner next year.
“We aren’t looking ahead to the next 30 years, but the next five for sure.”
30 years of memories:
Organizers of the Mission Folk Music Festival are celebrating 30 years of music and fun by creating a permanent memory of the past three decades.
“Picture the Song/ Tell the Story: 30 years of the Mission Folk Music Festival” will be a collection of photos and stories that spans the last 30 years.
Do you have a favourite photo that you have taken at the festival? A great story from the last 30 years?
The festival society is collecting photos and stories for the archive. The submissions will also go into making a virtual collage and storyboard for the festival website which will be added to as submissions are received.
Some of the entries will be featured on the Facebook page and a selection of photos/stories will go into the making of a book to commemorate the past 30 years and will be completed for the 2018 festival.
“We will be working on this project throughout the year,” Wahamaa said.
Here are some entry details:
• Photographs must be sent in jpeg format, ranging from 800 kb to one mb in size
• Stories must be a maximum of 500 words
Visit missionfolkmusicfestival.ca for more details and to upload your submissions.
Deadline for submissions is Feb. 1, 2018.